Pogacar looking to end Milan-San Remo ‘torment’ with possible early attack up the Cipressa ascent

MILAN (AP) — One of cycling’s biggest stars is hoping to finally win one of the few titles that still eludes him.

Tadej Pogacar has developed a love-hate relationship with the Milan-San Remo race over the years.

Season after season, attack after attack, Pogacar still hasn’t managed to tame the race known as La Classicissima — the longest of the one-day classics in Europe and the first of the season.

“Milan-San Remo is probably the race that will torment me for the longest time,” the three-time Tour de France winner said at the end of last year.

This could be the year his torment ends, with the Slovenian star set to mix things up.

In previous editions, Pogacar has attacked on the famous Poggio climb, the short but steep ascent that comes shortly before the finish of the nearly 290 kilometer (180 mile) race.

But, although short and steep, the last climb of the race does not have the brutal gradients that Pogacar has traditionally excelled on in his Tour victories, and his rivals have managed to follow his wheel before edging him out on the twisty descent to the finish.

The obvious alternative is to attack up the penultimate climb, on the Cipressa, which comes a bit more than 20 kilometers from the finish.

Not PARSE.LY: Tadej Pogacar

Bruised and bloodied Tadej Pogacar wins Strade Bianche

 

Two-time Tour de France champion Vingegaard calls for carbon monoxide ban to prevent doping abuse

 

Albania will host the opening 3 stages of next year’s Giro d’Italia

 

Others have tried that in the past, but the long stretch of flat highway between the Cipressa and the Poggio has always allowed a large group to chase back. The last time the Cipressa proved decisive was more than 30 years ago.

But there have been signs that that is precisely what Pogacar is planning to do.

This winter, clad in his world champion rainbow jersey, Pogacar was spotted going full gas on the Cipressa in what seemed to be a dress rehearsal for Saturday’s race.

“I know the final of the parcours really well by now and we’ll hope to light up the race on Saturday. Can we win? For sure it won’t be easy but we will give it a good shot,” Pogacar said on Wednesday. “As we’ve seen in the past there are a number of scenarios that this race can finish in. For sure we will have a plan and put ourselves in the best position possible. It’s a race we’d dearly love to win.”

There are further clues that Pogacar is planning a long-range solo attack to pull away from his rivals.

“Joking around with Tadej, we got it into our heads to do the Cipressa in under nine minutes,” his UAE Team Emirates teammate Tim Wellens said recently.

That would shatter the current Cipressa climbing record of 9 minutes, 16 seconds, set in 1996 when Gabriele Colombo launched his attack there and went on to solo to victory.

Wellens and his teammate may have been joking. But when Pogacar jokes, the peleton panics.

___

AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling